Originally Posted by
izzik
It's the longhaul QF segment that's driving up your carrier fees... suggest dropping the EYW sidetrip altogether and going JL SYD-HND, overnight stopover, then JL HND-JFK.. JL has surcharges too, but not as bad as QF. It should be approx $325 total in fees with JL on those 2 segments... and you'll rack up way more LPs with a JL code.
That's exactly what I wanted to book originally, and for exactly those reasons (I'd read enough on here to be wary of longhaul QF fees). Unfortunately, there was zero JL availability on HND-JFK around any of the dates I wanted, and the first agent struggled to find AA availability on that route as well.
I rationalize paying the extra $1000 with my current booking that includes PHL-EYW-PHL because I'd be buying it regardless, and it's a surprisingly expensive route for the dates I need.